French President Emmanuel Macron considered on Friday April 15 during a visit to the construction site of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral that it represented a "testimony of hope", congratulating "those who spend their days and nights "to renovate the building, three years after its fire.

"In this period when we are coming out of Covid-19 and [in the middle of] war in Europe, it is also a testimony of hope, it makes a lot of sense", estimated the Head of State, referring to also welcoming a "parenthesis" in his electoral campaign.

He was accompanied by his wife, Brigitte Macron.

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"We are on Good Friday, it happens that this religious holiday also corresponds - it is quite rare - to Passover for our compatriots of the Jewish faith and to Ramadan for our compatriots of the Muslim religion", he continued, emphasizing to be "president of a secular Republic", but by noting "a kind of synchronism".

During this visit of almost two hours, the President of the Republic exchanged with companions of the companies which took part in the construction site, in particular stonemasons.

"I find that there is extraordinary progress", he welcomed, congratulating those who "work day and night" and thanking "all the teams, companies, craftsmen, trades who are associates as well as all the French producers, whether stone or wood, therefore trees, which are mobilized in intimacy with the diocese of Paris".

Reopening planned for 2024 

Emmanuel Macron also reaffirmed that the objective of returning the cathedral in five years will be met, i.e. in 2024, "which does not exclude that certain works may continue after the reopening", specified his entourage.

It will be reopened "for worship and visits, and pilgrims and visitors will find Notre-Dame more beautiful than ever since it will have regained its original colors and brilliance", insisted the Head of State again.

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Three years after the fire that devastated it, Notre-Dame de Paris has regained its original whiteness thanks to the daily work of an army of craftsmen in the heart of a forest of scaffolding.

On April 15, 2019, a spectacular fire ravaged this masterpiece of Gothic art, causing the collapse of its frame, its spire, its clock and part of its vault, ravaged by the flames. , under the incredulous and devastated gaze of millions of people around the world.

In the middle of Holy Week, the 850-year-old Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral is plunged into a deep sleep for a large-scale surgical operation on the banks of the Seine, where it welcomed 12 million visitors each year before the fire.

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With AFP

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